In this section

13. THE PRIORY OF STONE

The priory of Stone was founded in an existing
church dedicated to St. Wulfad. The identity of the
saint is uncertain. The Historia Fundationis(fn. 1) claims
him as a son of Wulfhere, King of Mercia (657-74),
and states that, with his brother Ruffinus, he was
converted to Christianity by St. Chad and martyred
by his father; remorse for this act is said to have led
to King Wulfhere's own conversion by St. Chad
and to his foundation of a monastery at Stone. This
legend, however, cannot be accepted. Wulfhere was
already a Christian when he became king, (fn. 2) and the
story on which it is probably based is set by Bede
in another part of the country over ten years after
Wulfhere's death. (fn. 3)

It is possible that the regular canons at Stone
were preceded by another religious community.
Domesday Book records the gift of a carucate of
land in Walton (in Stone) made by Achil, a freeman,
to his sister; it has been suggested that this was a
gift to some small community of nuns, possibly a
hermitage. (fn. 4) The only corroborative evidence,
however, is provided by some late-medieval verses:

. . . two nunns and one preest lived in this place
The which were slayne by one Enysan . . .
This Enysan slue the nuns and priest alsoe,
Because his sister should have this church thoe. (fn. 5)

Although the value of these verses as evidence for
an early religious community is slight, they may
preserve a confused tradition of the circumstances
in which the Austin priory was founded at Stone.
Enisan was Enisan de Walton, the son of the Ernald
who held Walton under Robert de Stafford in 1086,
but it is Enisan's son, another Ernald, who appears
in the Pipe Roll of 1129-30 as owing a fine of 10
silver marks for 'the men whom he killed'. (fn. 6) It was
perhaps the need to raise this sum that led to the
sale to Geoffrey de Clinton of the property on
which Stone Priory was founded. (fn. 7) Soon after his
foundation of Kenilworth Priory (about 1125)
Clinton acquired the church of Stone from Enisan de
Walton and, with the assent of Enisan's superior
lord, Nicholas de Stafford, conveyed it to the canons
at Kenilworth. (fn. 8) In a deed of about 1131 Enisan and
Ernald II confirmed the church to Kenilworth
Priory and added to it land in Stone and Walton;
at the same time they confirmed the sale to Kenilworth of other land in Walton by Enisan's daughter
and her husband. (fn. 9) In return Clinton gave 50s. and a
palfrey worth 20s. to Ernald and a grey cloak and a
palfrey to Enisan. (fn. 10) These gifts were confirmed by
Nicholas de Stafford and his heir, Robert, (fn. 11) but
were the subject of some litigation in the king's
court. (fn. 12) They were subsequently confirmed again
by Ernald de Walton. (fn. 13)

The first mention of a daughter-house of Kenilworth at Stone (fn. 14) is in a charter of 1138-47 by which
Robert de Stafford II granted 'to the church of
Stone and the canons serving God there' considerable spiritual and temporal property. (fn. 15) It is possible
that this is in fact the foundation charter of Stone
Priory; Robert was the overlord of much property
which Geoffrey de Clinton secured for his foundation at Kenilworth, (fn. 16) and after the death of the
powerful Clinton he may well have wished to see a
daughter-house set up in the church where his
father, Nicholas, had been buried. Robert's charter
stresses his relationship to the priory as 'brother and
patron of the same church of Stone' and expresses
his desire to be buried there. The patronage remained in the Stafford family. (fn. 17) Robert gave to the
canons by this charter 'my chapel' of Stafford, (fn. 18) the
churches of Madeley, (fn. 19) Tysoe (Warws.), and
Wolford (Warws.), a mill at Wootton Wawen
(Warws.), a villein at Stafford castle with his holding, and a tithe of 'all my hunting'. Other gifts
made by Robert included half of the church of
Wootton Wawen, a villein, Godfrey of Ullenhall,
with his holding, part of the wood at Ullenhall (in
Wootton Wawen) and the manor of Horton. (fn. 20)

Spiritual endowments accumulated fairly quickly
thereafter but involved the priory in considerable
litigation. The church of Milwich was given by
Nicholas de Milwich; this gift was confirmed by
his overlord, Robert de Stafford, between 1138 and
1147, (fn. 21) though the title was not finally secured until
1233. (fn. 22) About 1155 Walter de Caverswall, with the
consent of his overlord, Robert de Stafford, gave
the canons his half share of the church of Stokeupon-Trent. By the early 1220s the Earl of Chester,
who then held the other half, was claiming the
priory's share also; he asserted that it had been
wrongfully alienated by Walter. (fn. 23) In 1223 the priory
surrendered its share to the earl in return for 2
virgates of land in Seabridge (in Stoke parish). (fn. 24)
The priory early claimed Swynnerton church, and
their claim was long resisted by the two clerks there.
About 1157, however, with the assent of the lord of
Swynnerton, the two clerks conceded that the
church was subject as a parochial chapel to Stone
Priory (fn. 25) and that it should provide the priory, as
'mother-church', with an annual pension of 2s. (fn. 26)
Nothing was said about the advowson of the church
in this agreement. The canons evidently claimed it
and succeeded in exercising the right when, during
John's reign, the lord of Swynnerton was outlawed. (fn. 27)
In 1218, however, Kenilworth Priory recognized the
lord of Swynnerton's claim to the advowson in
return for a pension of 2 marks to be paid to Stone
by the parson of Swynnerton. (fn. 28) Ruald de Dilhorne
gave the church of Dilhorne to the canons, and his
grant was confirmed by Robert de Stafford and
Bishop Richard Peche (1161-82). (fn. 29) The priory also
acquired a claim to the church of Bradley, perhaps
by a grant of the Stafford family; together with the
church of Dilhorne it was confirmed to the priory
by Pope Alexander III (1159-81). (fn. 30) Bradley church,
however, involved the canons in considerable
litigation as it was claimed as appurtenant to the
church of Gnosall. Although this contention was
abandoned about 1165, the priory had to agree to
share equally with the Chapter of Lichfield (fn. 31) all the
revenues of Bradley church except the tithes on the
lordship of Bradley and those belonging to St.
Nicholas's Chapel within Stafford castle. By 1223,
however, both Stone Priory and the Chapter of
Lichfield had lost the church of Bradley to the
Stafford family. (fn. 32) In 1196 the priory was accused
of disseising Basile de Loxley of the church of
Loxley (Warws.), but the prior successfully delayed
proceedings by pleading his subjection to Kenilworth. (fn. 33) Soon afterwards the priory's title had
confirmed by a final concord. (fn. 34) Kenilworth was
some right in the church of Checkley but surrendered it to Alice de Hopton in 1196 in return for a
rent of 20s. and the tithes of Normacot; (fn. 35) Stone
Priory established its title to these tithes in 1238. (fn. 36)

The priory was granted quittance of all synodal
customs for its churches by Bishop Clinton (112948), and by Bishop Peche (1161-82) all the liberties
which the abbeys of Burton and Rocester possessed
in their parishes. (fn. 37) Occasional glimpses are afforded
of the relations between the canons and their
parishes. Landowners who desired to have private
chapels or services had to secure the permission of
the priory. About 1200 the canons granted to
Eleanor de Verdon permission to maintain a chapel
in her house at Kibblestone (in Stone parish). (fn. 38) In
1226, when Hervey de Stafford fell ill at Tysoe, the
canons permitted him to have private services in
his chamber there from Christmas to Epiphany
taken by Brother Peter, one of their number; it was,
however, stipulated that this was not to be a
precedent for worship there. (fn. 39) To what extent the
canons served their parish churches themselves or
by secular vicars is uncertain. In 1259, however, a
papal indult, after noting that the church of Stone
was a parish church and conventual and had hitherto
been served by the religious and two secular priests
appointed by them, allowed that the canons should
not be compelled to institute a vicarage there. (fn. 40)

The temporal possessions of the house did not
increase greatly in the course of the 12th century,
though Henry II's confirmation shows a few
additions to its original endowment. (fn. 41) The canons
never owned much land outside Stone and Walton
but did acquire small properties in Darlaston, Stokeby-Stone, and Stallington (all in Stone parish). (fn. 42)
Some property was also acquired at Coppenhall (in
Penkridge parish) (fn. 43) and Tysoe. (fn. 44)

Privileges and gifts from the Crown helped to
augment the priory's resources during the 13th
century. In 1251 the canons purchased a charter
granting them a market at Stone on Tuesdays, a
yearly fair there on the eve, feast, and morrow of St.
Wulfad (23-25 July), and free warren in their
demesne lands in Stone and Stallington provided
these were not within the royal forest. (fn. 45) In 1266 the
king ordered 12 timber oaks to be sent to the priory
from Cannock Forest. In 1282 he granted the canons
a buck from the forest. (fn. 46)

During the Barons' Wars of Henry III's later
years the priory seems both to have suffered from,
and to have taken advantage of, the disturbed state
of the country. Early in 1263 royalist forces under
William la Zouche, Justiciar of Chester, and David,
brother of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, took the
town of Stafford and Chartley castle. As they
returned they burnt the town of Stone, plundered
the priory, and destroyed its muniments. (fn. 47) In 1265
the Abbot of Hulton impleaded the Prior of Stone
and others for impounding 300 of his sheep at
Stallington, ill-treating his shepherd, and seizing
his growing corn; it was reported that the sheriff
had been prevented by the war from distraining the
prior to appear. (fn. 48) At this time also the cellarer of the
priory and others were accused of theft from the
house of Adam de Arderne when he was 'in prison
for the king and Edward his son'. (fn. 49)

From an early date Stone was evidently semi-independent of the mother-house, in fact if not in
theory, and was not, like Calwich (another cell of
Kenilworth), a place where a keeper presided for
short periods over a handful of brethren. (fn. 50) Though
the parish church of Stone was evidently a wealthy
one, the decisive factor in the growth of the priory
was probably its adoption as the family monastery
by the barons of Stafford. As a result of this Stone
was not destined to remain one of those small
houses of Austin canons which were characteristic
of the order in England. Whether or not the original
establishment of a cell at Stone had been due to
Robert de Stafford II, (fn. 51) it is evident that his
successors considered that they had a claim to the
advowson of the priory. After litigation over the
priory between Robert de Stafford IV and the Prior
of Kenilworth in 1242 and 1243, Robert remitted
this claim in return for 40 acres of land in Stafford. (fn. 52)
In 1259, when the Prior of Stone died during a
vacancy in the mother-house, the king confirmed
the right of the Prior of Kenilworth to appoint
(ordinare) the Prior of Stone, saving royal rights
when Kenilworth was vacant. (fn. 53)

Daughter-houses of regular canons, however,
normally attained their independence in the long
run, and Stone became independent of Kenilworth
in the later 13th century. In 1260 an agreement
between the priories of Kenilworth and Stone stated
that the latter was to be 'free from all subjection to
the prior and convent of Kenilworth'. The agreement, however, reserved and defined the rights of
prior and canons of Kenilworth as patrons of Stone
Priory. During a vacancy at Stone the custody of the
priory was to be exercised by one of the canons or
servants of Kenilworth; the canons of Stone were to
obtain licence to elect a new prior from the Prior of
Kenilworth and two canons of Kenilworth were to
be present at the election. The Prior of Stone, if he
had been professed at Kenilworth, was to be present
at the election of a prior of Kenilworth and was to
have a place in the chapter and choir. Apart from
the rights of patronage the Prior of Kenilworth
reserved only the right to hospitality at Stone for
himself and a train of ten horses during a two-day
visit each year. The Prior of Stone was to be free to
receive and profess canons and to dispose of the
possessions of the priory. Copies of all the charters
of Kenilworth which related to Stone were to be
delivered under the seals of the bishop and the Prior
of Kenilworth, and when necessary the originals were
to be produced. (fn. 54) By an indenture of 1292 (fn. 55) a
division of the property of the two priories was
made. Kenilworth released to its daughter-house
all its right in the priory and church of Stone with
its chapels, lands, tithes, and other appurtenances.
The churches of Madeley and Milwich, the chapel
of St. Nicholas in Stafford castle, half the church of
Stoke-upon-Trent, (fn. 56) the Warwickshire churches of
Wolford (with its chapel) (fn. 57) and Tysoe, and the
tithes of Barton (fn. 58) were all confirmed to Stone, but
the church of Loxley was retained by Kenilworth.
Stone was also confirmed in its possession of
temporal estates in Stone parish (fn. 59) and at Coppenhall, Fradswell (Colwich parish), 'Herdewick'
(probably Hardiwick in Sandon parish), and
Stafford. Outside the county Stone retained temporalities at Tysoe, Wootton Wawen, Ullenhall, and
Weston-under-Wetherley (Warws.). (fn. 60) Kenilworth,
as well as retaining Loxley church, expressly reserved the patronage of Stone Priory and an annual
pension of 12½ marks out of the revenues of the
daughter-house. (fn. 61) Despite these reservations the
agreement probably marks the effective independence of Stone. The priory's title to certain estates
which had belonged to the great-grandson of
Enisan de Walton was further strengthened in the
following year (1293) by a final concord between the
prior and Roger de Pyuelsdon and his wife Joan,
heiress of the Walton family. (fn. 62)

Stone Priory was assessed at 2 marks for the aid
of 1235-6 but was probably wealthier than Trentham
which was assessed at the same amount. (fn. 63) None of
the other Augustinian houses of Staffordshire
approached this figure. (fn. 64) The Taxatio of 1291 shows
that Stone Priory was worth £79 6s. 10d. Temporal
possessions were worth £10 6s. 10d. and all were
within Stone parish except the property at Seabridge
(in Stoke parish). (fn. 65) Spiritual possessions were worth
much more: Stone church was valued at £40, Tysoe
church at £20, (fn. 66) and Milwich church at £5 6s. 8d.
Pensions of £2, £1, and 13s. 4d. were received from
the churches of Swynnerton, Checkley, and
Madeley respectively. (fn. 67) At the quo warranto inquiry
of 1293 (fn. 68) the Prior of Stone claimed free warren in
all the priory's demesne lands of Stone, Stoke-byStone, and Stallington, and the weekly market and
yearly fair at Stone. For these liberties he produced
the charter of Henry III granted in 1251. (fn. 69) The prior
also claimed the right of gallows on the authority of a
charter of Henry I, (fn. 70) which he produced. This
confirmed the possessions of Kenilworth Priory
which were to be held 'whole, quiet and free . . .
with soc, sac, toll and team, and infangentheof'.
The Prior of Stone claimed that his house, a cell of
Kenilworth, was entitled to enjoy these rights in its
possessions, and the jury agreed that the prior and
his predecessors had always enjoyed them since the
time of the charter.

The priory was evidently in some financial
difficulty in the late 13th century. In 1273 it owed 16
marks to Thomas de Basinges, citizen of London, (fn. 71)
in 1294 £12 to William of Doncaster, (fn. 72) and in 1305
£24 to Ralph de Hengham. (fn. 73) It is possible that these
debts were unpaid corrodies; there is, at any rate,
plenty of evidence that the priory was defaulting on
the payment of corrodies at this time. In 1281
Maffeo Spinelli sued the prior for the arrears of an
annual rent' of 2 marks due to him from the priory;
the arrears amounted to 27 marks, but Spinelli
remitted his claim to these arrears and to the rent in
return for a payment of 30 marks. (fn. 74) In 1288 Thomas
de Melewych remitted his claim to a corrody from
the priory in return for a payment of 18 marks. (fn. 75) In
1294 William, son of Robert de Cotes, sued the
prior for disseising him of a corrody at Stone which
consisted daily of a loaf of bread, a gallon of ale,
broth (pottagium), and the same ration of food as a
canon received; two candles each night during
November, December, and January; and each year
four cartloads of wood, a robe worth 1 mark, and
sustenance for a horse and groom on three nights.
William's plea was successful; he was awarded 30s.
damages (fn. 76) and was presumably reinstated in his
corrody. The priory's general obligation to provide
hospitality was also found onerous; the canons
alleged that the location of the priory on a main
highway caused a heavy burden of hospitality and
on this account, in 1343, they were allowed by the
bishop and the king to appropriate the church of
Madeley. (fn. 77) The king, however, exacted as well as
conferred favours. In 1315 the priory was burdened
with the maintenance for life of William de Blakelowe, a soldier who had been maimed at the recent
siege of Carlisle. (fn. 78) In 1339 wool belonging to the
priory worth 22½ marks was pre-empted by agents
of the Crown in return for a promise of repayment
the following year. (fn. 79)

In 1312 the priory was granted a general licence to
acquire lands and rents to the annual value of £20
'on account of the devotion which the king bears to
St. Wulfad whose body rests in the church of
the priory of Stone'. (fn. 80) Acquisitions by the priory in
respect of this licence, however, seem to have been
few: in 1326 the priory was allowed to acquire 10
messuages in Stone (fn. 81) and in 1335 a messuage, land,
and rent in Fulford and Meaford worth 26s. 2d. (fn. 82)
The last acquisition under the licence was in 1402
when the canons were granted permission to acquire
messuages, rent, and land worth £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 83) The
value of the lands acquired under this licence was
thus only a nominal £20; in reality they were worth
little more than £5. (fn. 84) In 1366 the Pope granted an
indulgence for penitents who visited the priory and
helped to keep it in repair. (fn. 85)

The history of the priory in the 15th century is
better documented than might be expected. When
in 1439 the priory of Christ Church, Aldgate, fell
on evil days, the Prior of Stone was one of three
Augustinian priors who, with the Abbot of
Leicester, president of the order, were appointed to
keep the house and its revenues for two years. (fn. 86) In
1446 the Pope allowed the priory to serve the church
of Stone by one or two canons because 'for the most
part secular priests are hard to find and it is not
distant from the said monastery'. (fn. 87)

During the priorate of Thomas Wyse grave
dissension between the prior and canons led to
litigation at Canterbury and Rome and to a visitation
of Stone by the heads of four neighbouring Augustinian houses. (fn. 88) It appears that Prior Wyse had
encountered disobedience and hostility from his
canons as a result of certain disputes about the
canons' salaries and their plots in the conventual
garden. In the absence of regular discipline petty
disputes were doubtless magnified; the prior reacted
harshly and the community was divided by 'schisms
. . . insults, hard and unjust words . . . prolonged
malice and wickedness'. Matters came to a head
when three canons brought the disputes into the
archbishop's Court of Audience. The Auditor of
Causes made 'a number of injunctions and rules' for
the welfare and government of the priory and compelled Prior Wyse to swear to observe them. Wyse,
however, did not do so and was excommunicated by
the auditor. The prior then appealed to Rome, and
in the summer of 1450 the sentence of excommunication was conditionally lifted. Bishop Booth and
Prior Holygreve of Kenilworth (fn. 89) were ordered to
exact a promise from Wyse that, if the sentence
were found to be just, he would obey their mandates;
they were then to call before them the canons and
others who were involved and to settle all the matters
in dispute. The quarrels were not, however, settled
in this way. Early in December 1450 the abbots of
Darley (Derb.) and Lilleshall (Salop.) and the
priors of Arbury (Warws.) and Ranton visited the
priory 'by the express wish, mandate and authority'
of Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, and the bishop.
This change of plan may have been due to the
initiative of Buckingham, the patron, for the visiting
abbots and priors in their injunctions several times
stressed the obligations of the community to lay
society and in particular to the founders and benefactors of the priory. (fn. 90)

As the quarrels within the community had given
rise to 'scandals and slanders offensive to God and
man, and also to great expenses and losses', the
visitors applied themselves to the reform of both the
spiritual and the temporal government of the priory.
Their detailed regulations were designed both to
reform specific abuses (fn. 91) and to re-establish proper
observance of the Augustinian rule generally; they
thus give a clear picture of the spiritual state of the
community at Stone before 1450 and of the day-today routine in a small Augustinian house at this
time. It is clear that the common life of the community had largely broken down. This was a not
uncommon feature of late-medieval monastic life, (fn. 92)
and at Stone the symptoms were much the same as
elsewhere: the choir and cloister were neglected,
the canons associated too freely with secular persons,
the refectory was no longer used for meals, and
drinking and gossiping after compline were usual. (fn. 93)
The visiting superiors noted all these faults and
made regulations against them, but they showed no
inclination to analyse the deeper causes of this crisis
beyond attributing a part in it to the Devil. (fn. 94)

At Stone as elsewhere the breakdown of the common religious life seems to have been due in large
part to the obedientiary and wage systems; these
were, however, unaffected, or even strengthened, by
the injunctions of 1450. The worst effects of the
obedientiary system were the inroads which it made
into the service of the choir and cloister. At Stone
the visitors provided against these by enjoining the
prior and cellarer to be personally present at matins,
vespers, and mass each Sunday and solemn feast
day and by ordering all canons in priest's orders to
celebrate mass daily. In essentials, however, the
obedientiary system was confirmed: officials were to
be appointed and under the prior's supervision were
to employ revenues assigned to them. One common
effect of the obedientiary system — the uncertain
distribution of the common revenues (fn. 95) — had
perhaps been made worse at Stone by Prior Wyse's
attempts to interfere with the canon's salaries; this
had evidently been a principal cause of the crisis.
Under the new regulations each canon was to receive
an annual salary of £1 13s. 4d. for his clothing and
necessities. (fn. 96) In addition the canons were to have
such gifts, legacies, and offerings as were made for
the burial of the dead, (fn. 97) while the epistoler and
gospeller on the major feasts were to receive rewards
of a penny. Though the wage system with its encouragement of possessiveness thus remained, some
of its worst manifestations at Stone were checked by
the visitors. In their settlement of the disputes between the prior and canons over the conventual
garden the visitors ordered that it was to be held in
common and that plots there were to be assigned
each year to the canons; the profits of cultivation,
however, were no longer to be applied to private
purposes but to the common uses of the priory.
Similarly the profits from bee-keeping in the garden
and cemetery were no longer to be privately retained
but were assigned to the sacrist's revenues.

Other regulations concerning the secular affairs
of the priory were designed to ensure that its business
was conducted with unanimity. The officers were to
be appointed on the advice of the community and
were all, including the prior, to render annual
accounts. The common seal was to be kept under
three locks, the keys being held by the prior, subprior, and sacrist; no corrodies were to be granted,
the goods of the house were not to be alienated, and
farms were to be granted under the common seal
only after due deliberation in chapter. The canons'
shaving and the laundering of their clothes were to
be paid for out of the common revenues, and the
canons were strictly forbidden to employ private
laundresses.

It seems clear that the visiting superiors were
above all concerned to raise the standard of regular
observance, and to this end they made a number of
provisions which illuminate in some detail the daily
routine of the small community. The canons were
to live in 'charity, peace and concord' and to show
reverent obedience to the prior at all times, and the
prior was urged to be modest and kind to his
brethren. Silence was to be strictly observed in the
choir, cloister, and dormitory, as laid down in the
liber ordinis. After compline all the canons were to
go together to the dormitory where each in his own
cell was to prepare himself for rest by prayer and
meditation 'so that the canons who must rise in the
middle of the night (fn. 98) are more disposed to pay due
worship to God'. Attendance at the monastic offices
was to be improved and canons who missed matins
were to be punished by fines and penitential diets.
On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays the community was to have an hour of recreation before
vespers; instead of remaining in the cloister for
study and contemplation the canons were to go into
the orchard within the monastery precincts; here
they could stroll about, read, or play suitable games.
All canons were to avoid suspect places and persons,
and no secular person was to be admitted to their
dormitory or even to their recreation. No canon was
to leave the precincts without the prior's special
permission.

The most detailed regulations were those concerned with the meals and diet of the canons.
Friday and Saturday were the chief days of abstinence, but food was also to be less on Monday and
Wednesday unless an important feast occurred.
Meals were to be eaten in common in the prior's
hall until the refectory had been repaired 'for where
there is a community of religious without a refectory . . . religion is not well served'. Eating and
drinking in the dormitory cells, which had evidently
been usual, was forbidden, and only the infirm or
those invited to the prior's table were to eat apart
from the community. For infirm canons there had
been no proper provision for some years, and the
visitors ordered an infirmary to be built and an
infirmarer appointed without delay.

The visitors' injunctions were ratified early in
1451 by the Duke of Buckingham as patron, by
Bishop Booth, and by Archbishop Stafford. (fn. 99) Under
the Augustinian rule they were clearly designed to be
the basis of the priory's daily life. To what extent
they improved the observance of religion there is
not known. At many points — as for example the
system of fines for being absent from choir and
rewards for singing the Epistle and Gospel — they
seem to reinforce a mercenary view of the religious
life. At others they seem to allow for little zeal on
the part of the brethren for whom they were drawn
up; thus the infirmarer is urged to attend conscientiously to the needs of the sick, 'reflecting that a
similar thing may happen to him in the same way,
and therefore let him do for another what he would
wish to have done for himself'. (fn. 100) The orderly life
envisaged by these regulations was evidently hard to
attain in the turbulent conditions of the 15th
century. In 1458 the suffragan bishop was commissioned to bless and reconcile the priory church,
which had been polluted by bloodshed. (fn. 101) In 1472 the
prior was ordered to pay £6 damages for his part in
disseising Richard Whalley of the manor of Darlaston; (fn. 102) later in the same year the prior was imprisoned by the sheriff. (fn. 103) The following year the
prior sued a miller of Walton for breaking into his
close at Aston and depasturing cattle there; he also
sued a John Heywood for 6½ marks. (fn. 104) In 1484 a John
Bilstone was sued for stealing 190 sheep worth £20
from the priory. (fn. 105)

The community (including the prior) numbered
six in 1377 and 10 in 1381. (fn. 106) A visitation of 1518 (fn. 107)
shows that there were then six canons and two
novices; this number was considered by the visitor
to be too low. The prior expressed his desire to
increase the number of brethren but alleged that the
other canons were unwilling for this to be done. In
1521 (fn. 108) there were eight canons and two novices. At
this period the officials were the subprior, sacrist,
and cellarer. (fn. 109) In 1521 the novices stated that there
was no one to teach them Latin except the sacrist. (fn. 110)

The visitations of 1518 and 1521 (fn. 111) reveal that the
house was troubled by hostility between the prior
and subprior. The main cause of dispute was the
presence in the monastery of one Onyon, a glover,
and his family, who were evidently protégés of the
prior. In 1518 the subprior stated that Onyon's wife
and daughters lived at the top of the bell-tower and
were maintained out of the goods of the house. In
1521 he claimed to have been attacked and threatened
by Onyon and his son and insulted by one of
his daughters; (fn. 112) he added that the wife and a
daughter were a source of scandal. (fn. 113) Other members
of the community, however, supported the prior
and the Onyon family; one of them stated that
the subprior was a drunkard and much given to
hunting.

At the visitation of 1518 the prior claimed that
during his period of office he had increased the
value of the priory's goods and livestock to 1,000
marks. In 1518 and 1521 the house was free from
debt, and in the latter year the prior stated that the
annual income was 360 marks. (fn. 114) Neither the Valor
Ecclesiasticus of 1535 nor the account of the Crown's
minister in 1537 suggests an income of this size.
It is, however, possible that the prior's figure
includes some estimate of the annual income from
fines for granting leases of the priory property. The
Valor gives the total gross income as £130 2s. 11d. a
year. (fn. 115) Temporal possessions were stated to produce
£54 12s. 11d., the major part deriving from the
manor of Stone (£27 13s. 2d.) and property at
Stallington (£16). Various payments reduced this to
£50 19s. 6d.; these included a fee of £1 6s 8d. a year
to Sir Edward Aston, chief steward of the priory's
temporalities, and a fee of the same amount to
Geoffrey Walkeden, bailiff of Stone. Spiritual
possessions produced £75 10s. of which the church
of Stone produced £40 (principally from tithe) and
the church of Tysoe £24 (from glebe and tithe).
The annual pension of £9 to Kenilworth Priory and
other payments reduced this to £59 15s. 5⅓d. (fn. 116) The
gross annual value of the priory property as listed in
1537 after it had passed to the Crown was £199
19s. 1½d. The spiritual endowments, worth £87
0s. 8d. a year, consisted of the appropriated churches
of Stone, Tysoe, Madeley, and Milwich and pensions
from the churches of Swynnerton and Checkley.
The temporal endowments, worth £112 18s. 5½d.
a year, consisted of the manor of Stone and lands
and rents in Aston, Darlaston, Stoke-by-Stone,
Burston (in Stone), Oulton, 'Doreslowe', Hilderstone (in Stone), Meaford, Walton, Stallington,
Stafford, Coppenhall, and Seabridge. (fn. 117)

The last prior, William Smyth, seems to have
been optimistic about the fate of his house, although
Stone came within the terms of the Act of 1536 for
dissolving the lesser monasteries. (fn. 118) Smyth had
bought some timber from the bishop who, apparently
seeing the shape of things to come, delayed delivery,
whereupon the prior wrote anxiously in February
1537: 'If I have not the said timber, I know not
where to be provided for my great work now in
hand'. (fn. 119) In March Lord Stafford wrote to Cromwell
that the royal commissioners were expected the
following Sunday but that 'the Prior of Stone thinks
his house shall stand, whereof the country is glad'.
Lord Stafford had been trying to secure a grant of the
priory's land but now asked for Ranton instead. (fn. 120)

The house was evidently suppressed in the spring
of this year, the prior receiving a pension of £20. (fn. 121)
He seems to have mortgaged 'a shrine of silver gilt', (fn. 122)
perhaps to raise money to avert the suppression of
the house; chattels of the priory, which were said to
have been embezzled, included four standing cups
and two 'salts' of silver. (fn. 123) Lord Stafford transferred
the alabaster tombs of his family from the priory
to the Austin friary at Stafford, (fn. 124) but in vain since
that house too was dissolved the year after Stone.
The site of Stone Priory was bought in 1538 by
William Crompton, citizen and mercer of London. (fn. 125)

Little remains of the priory buildings. Part of a
sub-vault of the western range is incorporated in
the cellars of the house called The Priory. (fn. 126) To the
east of it are some slight remains, possibly of the
chapter-house.

William Smyth, occurs 1529, prior at the dissolution in 1537. (fn. 148)

The seal of the house in use in the 13th century
is a pointed oval 2½ by 1½ in. and shows the Virgin
crowned and seated with the Child on her left
knee and holding a flower in her right hand. (fn. 149)

14. The verses cited above ascribe a part in the foundation
of Stone Priory to Rob. de Stafford I, but he had in fact
died before even Kenilworth Priory was founded. Nic. de
Stafford, although he confirmed Enisan's gifts to Kenilworth and was buried at Stone, was not a benefactor of
Stone Priory. If, as seems likely, Rob. de Stafford II was
instrumental in bringing canons to Stone, the foundation
of the priory must have occurred between the death of his
father (c. 1138) and Bp. Clinton's departure from England
(1147). What seems to be an earlier reference to the priory
(S.H.C. vi(1), 22-23), is suspect, being dated 'Easter A.D.
1136, 36 Hen. I', although Easter 1136 fell in Stephen's
reign.

16. Besides the property of Enisan and Ernald de Walton
which eventually passed to Stone, Clinton gave the manor
of Idlicote (Warws.) to Kenilworth: Proc. Brit. Acad.
xlviii, 138; Dugdale, Warws. i. 606.

18. Taken by Eyton to be the church of St. Mary in
Stafford Borough but in fact St. Mary's, Castle Church:
V.C.H. Staffs. v. 95 (which, following S.H.C. iv(1), 113,
assigns the original gift to temp. Hen. II). The church was
lost to the Dean and Canons of St. Mary's, Stafford, in
1253-5.

19. Probably simply the advowson of Madeley church; if
so, this gift seems to have been contested by Robert's
heirs for in 1272 Nic. de Stafford remitted all claim to the
advowson in consideration of a payment of £10: S.H.C.
iv(1), 256-7. The church was not appropriated until the
14th cent.: see below p. 243.

20.
S.H.C. vi(1), 6, 7, 28; Place-Names of Warws. (Eng.
Place-Names Soc. xiii), 245. The grant of Horton manor
was ultimately ineffective; in 1227 it passed, with the
agreement of Hervey de Stafford, to the Audley family:
S.H.C. iv(1), 226-7.

28. Ibid. iv(1), 218-19. This pension of 2 marks seems
often to have been in arrears. The priory obtained
judgment against the parson of Swynnerton in the bishop's
court in 1295 and in the king's court in 1303: ibid. vi(1),
26-27; vii(1), 112. In 1452 the pension was again in arrears:
ibid. N.S. iii. 204.

54. J. C. Dickinson, Origins of the Austin Canons and their
Introduction into Eng. 159-60; Reg. of Bp. Godfrey Giffard
(Worcs. Hist. Soc.), ii. 105. Previously to this agreement
the Prior of Kenilworth had often appeared as plaintiff or
defendant, either alone or with the Prior of Stone, in suits
concerning the property of Stone Priory: S.H.C. iii(1), 29,
36, 166-7; iv(1), 66-67, 100; above p. 241.

56. For an explanation of this moiety see V.C.H. Staffs.
viii. 188 n. 55, and above p. 241.

57. The advowson of Wolford church had in fact been
sold in 1267: V.C.H. Warws. v. 217.

58. Probably Barton in Bidford parish (Warws.), a parish
which belonged to the canons of Kenilworth until the
Dissolution: V.C.H. Warws. iii. 56. The tithes of her
demesne in Barton had been given to Stone Priory by
Cecilia de Freford, possibly descended from a daughter of
Enisan de Walton: S.H.C. i. 187; ii(1), 208-9; vi(1), 7.

64. See pp. 238, 248. There are no assessments for Ranton
and St. Thomas's.

65.
Tax. Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 252. This list, however, is not
complete; it omits e.g. the small estates at Coppenhall
(granted to the priory in the later 12th cent. and still
among its possessions in 1535: see above p. 242; Valor
Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii. 113) and at Tysoe. It is possible that
all the small temporal endowments acquired by the
priory in Tysoe had, like the gift there of Matilda de
Stafford (Cal. Pat. 1334-8, 309), become confounded in
the possessions of Tysoe church. The Valor Ecclesiasticus
shows no temporal estate there in 1535.

66. The church of Tysoe, appropriated to the priory by
Archbp. Becket, 1162-70 (Dugdale, Warws. i. 544; Reg.
Giffard, ii. 105, 106, 439), was not noted among the priory's
possessions in 1291.

67.
Tax. Eccl. 219, 242, 243. The pensions from Swynnerton and Checkley churches continued to be received until
the Dissolution: S.H.C. N.S. x(2), 219; Reg. Simonis
Langham (Cant. & York Soc.), 90; Valor Eccl. iii. 114.
Madeley church was later appropriated: see below.

85.
Cal. Papal Pets. i. 533. The indulgence was available
for 10 years (1366-76). In the same year the prior was
made an honorary papal chaplain (ibid. 534), and one of
the canons, John of Lichfield, was given a dispensation
for illegitimacy (ibid. 536).

95. D. Knowles, Monastic Order in Eng. 433-4. At Stone,
according to the visitors' injunctions, four-fifths of a
canon's salary was to be paid to him by the prior or a
canon specially appointed to act for the prior, while another
fifth was to be paid by the sacrist.

96. This is stated to be the same amount as that paid in
larger houses such as Darley, Lilleshall and Kenilworth.
For comparative figures see Knowles, Religious Orders in
Eng. ii. 240-1.

113. According to the subprior's testimony the wife, who
was suspected of theft, 'manet ex altera cubiculi prioris
ita ut possit prior ex fenestro eam contemplari', and one
of the daughters had 'suspect access' to the priory. The
subprior added that he had caught one of the brethren
with the wife of a townsman in the monastery precincts;
the woman had entered through a gap in the cemetery
paling which the prior persistently refused to repair.

141. B/A/1/7, f. 54; /9, ff. 48v.-49. He was subprior at
election. The bishop granted him a pension in 1423: ibid.
ff. 140v.-141v., undated entry between items of Apr. and
July 1423. He resigned because of age and weakness, in
particular because 'the light of his eyes' was dulled.

144.
Cal. Pat. 1476-85, 65; Lich. Dioc. Regy., B/A/1/13, f.
144v. The bishop assigned him a pension of £23 6s. 8d.
from the priory's property in Stallington. The ex-prior
was also to have bread, ale, and fuel and the use of the new
building which he had lately put up within the priory
precincts: R. Churton, Lives of Wm. Smith . . . and Sir Ric.
Sutton (Oxford, 1800), 72n.

145. B/A/1/13, f. 143v.; A. B. Emden, Biog. Reg. of Univ.
of Oxford to A.D. 1500, ii. 711; Emden, Biog. Reg. of
Univ. of Cambridge to 1500, 237-8. He was Bp. of
Achonry, Ireland, 1492-1508 and suffragan to the Bp. of
Coventry and Lichfield 1494-6 and to the Bp. of Lincoln
1496-1505: see above p. 41; Handbk. of Brit. Chron. 344;
Margaret Bowker, Secular Clergy in the Dioc. of Lincoln,
1495-1520, 24. He was also described at his election to
Stone as lately a canon of Bodmin (Cornw.).

146. B/A/1/14, f. 21v. His name is given as Robert in a
document of 1542: S.R.O., D.(W.)1721/1/9, f. 52v.